The present disclosure relates generally to well drilling and hydrocarbon recovery operations and, more particularly, to systems and methods for determining kerogen porosity of a formation for downhole operations.
Existing well drilling operations require information on formation characteristics to aid in drilling decisions. These formation characteristics can be acquired using numerous measurement techniques, including logging while drilling (LWD), measuring while drilling (MWD), and wireline tests. In certain instances, logs may be created from the measurement techniques that can be used to assess a given reservoir. Unfortunately, existing logging techniques are unable to discretely measure certain important formation reservoir characteristics, such as the kerogen porosity of the formation, which may indicate the hydrocarbon storage capacity of the formation. In particular, existing logging techniques cannot discretely measure the kerogen porosity because they sample substantial volumes of the formation that overshadow the nanometer scale of the kerogen pores. Likewise, determining the kerogen porosity computationally is difficult because it may require drastic alterations of the existing algorithms, which may increase the complexity and computational time of the formation assessment beyond what is required by log analyses.
While embodiments of this disclosure have been depicted and described and are defined by reference to exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, such references do not imply a limitation on the disclosure, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The subject matter disclosed is capable of considerable modification, alteration, and equivalents in form and function, as will occur to those skilled in the pertinent art and having the benefit of this disclosure. The depicted and described embodiments of this disclosure are examples only, and not exhaustive of the scope of the disclosure.